Unexpected Places
by Kawaiibunnyhops
Summary: Cerin didn't like MMORPG's until his cousin, Mayla, asked for one. Kenna was looking for adventure and a good time. When these three meet in the game, Mayla wants Kenna as her bestie. Cerin and Kenna don't get very close, which suits them just fine. But when all Cerin holds dear is threatened, will he be able to cope on his own? Or will he need help from the most unexpected person?


**Me: This is The Tiny Foxtail, mine, and Shadowninja2000's collab for Sword Art Online! If you don't know any of us, then search us. And if you haven't seen Sword Art Online, then watch it. This is based off the second arc of SAO, the ALfheim arc. I'm very excited and hope are too! Enjoy and please leave a review!**

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**Mayla's POV**

"But Cerin! My birthday is TOMORROW! It would just be a non-surprise gift!" I was sitting on my pink bed with my cousin, Cerin.

"I don't know, Mayla. Do you even have a NerveGear to play it with?" Cerin asked, looking down at me suspiciously. I froze. Actually, I didn't, but that didn't matter to anyone except Cerin, but he wouldn't care.

"Um...yes! Psht, of course I do! Who doesn't!" I said cheerily, even though it was obvious I was lying. He raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Judging by your reaction, I'd guess...uh...you." Cerin said slowly. I huffed.

"But Cerin! I reeeaally want that game! Pleeease?"

"I realize you want the game Mayla, but you reeeaaaaally can't play it without a NerveGear." He crossed his arms. I put my elbows on my knees.

"So buy me one!" I said, lifting my head out of my hands. Cerin choked.

"Mayla! Those things are expensive as hell!" Then he froze and sighed. "Don't tell your parents I said that," he sighed, running a hand through his light blond hair. I rolled my dark purple-blue eyes.

"And don't repeat it either?" I asked. He grinned and ruffled my light brown hair.

"You got it down, girlie." I smacked his hand away viciously and patted down my hair. I put on my best begging face.

"Pleeease?" I asked, sticking my bottom lip out piteously. Cerin covered his eyes with his hands.

"Don't look at the eyes, don't look at the eyes, don't look at the ey-" he opened his eyes through his fingers and caught a glimpse of me. I turned the cuteness up full blast by making my eye as big as quarters. He groaned and dropped his hands, irritated.

"Fine. Damn you and all your adorable glory," he muttered. I grinned. "But you have to stop bugging me about it!" he insisted. I nodded.

"But...how are we going to keep it a secret?" I asked. Cerin's face split into a mischievous, boyish grin. He winked and ruffled up my hair. I pated it down again and frowned when he looked away to start explaining in front of my mirror in the right corner at the back of my room.

"Don't worry about it. Cousin Cerin's got it allll under control, girlie," he said charismatically. I scowled up at him and I slapped his hand.

"Don't call me that! I'm not that much younger than you are!"

"Oho, only five years. Look at you, growing up," he intoned dryly, cracking a half-grin.

"Don't go acting all superior, Mr. I-Don't-Have-My-License-Even-Though-I'm-Sixteen! And besides, I'm turning twelve!" I snapped. Cerin just laughed and ruffled my hair again. Then he ran when I started chasing him.

"_Next time he calls me girlie, I swear_… _and if he ruffles my hair!_" I thought as I ran down the stairs after Cerin. I successfully made it down the stairs, and just saw him rounding the corner into the dining hall. I scowled darkly and followed him, my mouth set in a pout. After dinner, before leaving, Cerin came up to my room. I was laying on the bed and glanced over at the open door before laying my head back down. A squeaking protest of the springs in my bed later, he was laying next to me.

"So, what's the plan?" We stared up at the ceiling.

"What do you mean?" I sat up on my elbows and looked at my cousin, laying on my left.

"Well, do you just want me to buy the gift in the morning or what?" He turned his head to face me.

"Mom and Dad will let me go with you but, I have to be back by eight." I slumped back down on my pillow.

"Well let's go then."

"Do you have a flashlight?"

"You are so lucky I do." I smiled up at the ceiling.

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"Thanks again, Aunt Fauna, for letting me take Mayla with me." Cerin did a two-fingered salute as we walked out the door.

"If she has a scratch on her when she gets back, you're gonna be tomorrow's lunch!" Dad called after us. Cerin chuckled and waved as we walked out the door into the damp darkness. Cerin stuck his hands in his pockets, whistling a nameless tune as we walked. He didn't seem perturbed at all by the darkness; nor did he take out the flashlight. I shivered, both from the cold and a little bit of fear. One glance up at my golden-haired cousin, though, reassured me that I would be safe with him.

"Are you going to call me your favorite cousin now?" Cerin asked, grinning down at me. His face was an eerie yellow under the streetlights we walked under, and it sent shivers down my spine. I looked out into the neighborhood and swore I saw a shadow move. I let out an involuntary squeak, and huddled closer to Cerin. Knowing well my fear of the dark, Cerin draped his well-muscled arm over my shoulders, reassuring me of his presence yet again.

"I think you're my only cousin, and you claimed the title friend." I said. I glanced up at his face. He wasn't listening to me any more, his attention on the small store in front of us.

"I hope the store's still open," he muttered. We walked up to a building, an oddly small shop with the name "Game Shop" in red lights on a sign above it. You could tell the shop was old, as the "a" and "o" were flickering, and the "e" had gone completely out.

"Now let's hope they still have the game, and a NerveGear." I pushed open one of the doors and above, a bell clanged.

"Welcome to Game Shop. We were about to close but you two came, so I won't mind staying open a bit longer. How can I help you?" a bald man with a white shirt and apron and pale brown pants came out from the back room to the counter putting his elbows on the counter and placing his head on his fists.

"We want the game ALfheim." Cerin always got straight to the point about things like this. The manager removed his elbows and I came up and put my elbows on the counter, laying my head in my hands.

"And a NerveGear." I added. The workman looked shaken. I looked around the store and, in the back of the room, found the game ALfheim on a golden shelf with green paint at the bottom to make grass and human sized fairies. I saw one fairy that I took great interest in.

"I'll get the game." I told Cerin, skipping to the back of the store. I hesitated before picking up the game. I also went around to the right side to examine the fairy. It looked slightly like a cat and I touched it.

"Mayla, c'mon. We can't be late," Cerin said, his voice echoing through the near-abandon building to reach me. I grabbed a game quickly and skipped back to the counter. I laid my head on my arms as I watched the clerk bag the things. Cerin dug his wallet out of his pocket and handed the man some money. The man's eyes widened at the amount there and he counted it. He gaped up at Cerin, who towered above him, but Cerin was absorbed in something else. The man shook his head and rung up the purchase.

"You have a beautiful name, miss." the clerk commented.

"Thank you, sir!" I grinned up at the attendant. The old man smiled down at me and handed the bag to my cousin, who took ot and slung it over his shoulder easily.

"Is she your sister?" he asked Cerin, pointing at me. I made a face: with my dark hair, nearly translucent skin, and small stature, I looked nothing like Cerin, except for our eyes, which were the same shade of purple-blue. Cerin shook his head solemnly, and a wave of hair floated over into his eyes. He blew it out of his face aggravatedly. "Oh, your girlfriend?" the man asked, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Oh, no! She's my cousin. Tomorrow is her twelfth birthday," Cerin replied good-naturedly, ruffling up my hair. The manager apologized but Cerin brushed it off, thanking the man and guiding me quickly out the door.

"He told me it was the last one. You are one special girl." Cerin ruffled my hair when we were a ways away from the shop selling games. I smacked his hand roughly, and Cerin stuck his hand back in his pocket. We walked in silence to my house, which was really not that far away. Cerin opened the door and paused outside, looking up at the ceiling. With what sounded like a very doleful sigh, he walked in with me. Cerin's mother immediately ran over to him, fussing over his hair and telling him how dangerous it was to be outside when it was that dark and what if something had happened to him, she would never forgive herself and how he should tell her when he was going out, especially with a little girl to protect when he could barely protect himself and oh, how glad she was he was safe. She hugged him close and I could almost feel him roll his eyes. Cerin was not a person that enjoyed being doted upon; Cerin's mom was a very doting mother. Cerin was more like his father; aloof, willing and able to serve others, even if he wasn't always...the most stable person in the world, and willing to commit, but only to the person that will love and take are of him in ways he could never ask for.

"Oh, and Mayla! I'm so glad you're all right, too. With all the lunatics out there nowadays, how could your parents feel that you were absolutely safe out there?" she asked, pulling me into a hug. I squirmed my way out of her hug and smiled politely.

"Well, I suppose we have more faith in Cerin than you do, Leann," my father said, standing up from the table. My aunt stood up briskly and glared at my father. Cerin gave me an exasperated look and his mother took his arm possessively. Cerin sighed and rolled his eyes, saying a toneless goodbye to my parents and giving me an affectionate hair ruffle before his mother tugged him out the door without saying goodbye to my parents. I trudged up the stairs to my room, suddenly tired. I laid in my bed and thought about what tomorrow would hold.

**The next day...**

"Play safe!" Mom yelled after me. I closed the door and went out into the yard and climbed over the white painted fence, jumping into the field behind our yard.

"Got the present?" I asked Cerin, sitting next to him. We were in the middle of the field so no one would see me go.

"Do you have your stuff?" Cerin asked, looking through my bag.

"Yep! And I left the note on the coffee table like you said." I hugged Cerin. "I'm going to miss you."

"Why? I'm going with you." He looked down at me. I returned his look, even though mine was confused.

"But you don't have a game!" My eyes widened as he took two games out of the large birthday bag. A grin graced his face, lighting up his eyes as he handed one to me and kept one for himself.**  
**

"How'd you get that!" I said in a hushed whisper. He shrugged.

"I got it when I was littler. Anyways!" Cerin placed the NerveGear on my head over my unruly curly hair.

"Did you ever play it?!" I asked incredulously, batting at his hands to get them away.

"No." Cerin replied, putting on his NerveGear.

"So how do I put the game in?" I asked, tracing random swirls on the cover of the game.

"Leave it to me." Cerin gently removed the game from my hands and started to insert it into my NerveGear.

"Why isn't anything happening" I looked up at Cerin.

"Crap," he looked over at me. "These have to be plugged in."

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**Me: That's it! Thanks for reading and please leave a review!**

**Mayla: And keep reading to see what happens next! But this time, it's from Cerin's point of view!**

**Me: So review and keep reading! Next chapter by Ninja!**


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